CAR 22

Lying sideways and looking at the ceiling, Yan placed both hands on his chest. He closed his eyes with a clear face, like a child waiting for a gift.

Thomer hastily drained the remaining glass. Here, one had to be completely wasted on either drugs or alcohol.

🩰

Dennis ran through the undergrowth like a crazed pony. His whole body felt grimy. Now, how his body had been ravaged by them, how much he had been violated, whether they had ultimately pulled down his pants and looked… those things felt trivial in comparison.

Dennis’s pupils were severely constricted. He ran straight to the annex. His sleeves and trouser legs became soaked with night dew, but he didn’t care.

A candlelight flickered in one of the windows on the first floor of the annex. It was probably Sami’s room. Dennis, leaping over, ran there and pounded on the window like a robber. There was no sign of anyone inside.

Finally, Dennis picked up the flattest, largest stone. He was about to smash the window.

“Mr. Kahler?”

It was Sami. His pants were rolled up to his knees, and his hands held a handful of weak-rooted weeds. Sami, looking back and forth between the stone Dennis held up and his temporary residence, gave an awkward smile.

His chest tightened every time he smiled. Those damn twins…

“I always pull weeds when it rains.”

“…”

“The ground is softest then.”

The day Dennis had buried Laurent’s head was a day just like this. A damp, wet, and very dark night. Dennis suddenly looked down at his own hands. The dirt that had been packed under his fingernails like moss was long gone.

Dennis, having carelessly put down the garden stone, closed the distance with Sami. He noticed Dennis was barefoot and his expression momentarily hardened.

“Did something bad happen to you?”

Dennis, instead of answering, looked for a long time at Sami, who wore the skin of Laurent Remi. From now on, Dennis intended to relentlessly incite this pitiful and fragile lamb. Dennis reached out his hand to Sami. Dennis stroked Sami’s ear. Sami’s eyes darted around, as if bewildered by Dennis’s gentle fingertips.

“Laurent…”

Dennis trailed off, as if he had made a huge mistake.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Oh, no.”

“Laurent and I were quite…”

It had been a fucked up relationship.

“…close.”

Sami dropped the weeds he was holding. Sami immediately took off his work boots and offered them. Dennis firmly refused, but he was stubborn down to the crown of his head. Having no choice, Dennis slipped his feet into his large work boots. They were warm.

“May I dare to confess at this point.”

“…Yes?”

“Ah, it would be closer to an exposé than a confession.”

Sami’s eyes wavered. Dennis placed his hand on Sami’s round head like a priest. The young man even closed his eyes, as if receiving a baptism.

“You asked me how Laurent died.”

“Yes, yes… I did.”

Dennis, taking a deep breath, let out a long sigh.

“Laurent was Yan’s dog.”

“…A dog?”

“Under the pretext of teaching, he abused him, molested him, and after committing filthy acts between men…”

He killed Laurent when he was no longer useful.

Dennis’s throat constricted. Half was truth, and half was a lie.

Sami seemed to have run out of words. Having given his shoes to Dennis, he was now barefoot and sat down on the damp, muddy ground. Sami buried his head between his knees and was quiet for a long time.

And for good reason, for the man who had provided him with a place to stay and a job had, in fact, murdered his brother. Dennis smiled quietly.

Dennis embraced Sami’s distraught, agitated body. Sami, who had been sinking, finally came to his senses and trembled.

“Should I tell you how he killed him, too?”

Sami’s eyes flickered. Dennis suddenly looked at the distant lights of the main building. Manipulation and schemes were not their exclusive domain.

Dennis had once been called the tongue of the nobles. It was easy for him to please his opponents and to devise an escape route. However, at Bolle, he was utterly failing to fulfill his role. This was an isolated world where common sense and a serious demeanor did not work.

Sami, having heard all of Dennis’s accusations, finally collapsed. He was speechless for a long time.

“Then where is my brother’s head…”

After a long while, Sami asked back in an anxious voice. Dennis put on a sorrowful expression.

Dennis deliberately trailed off, saying he was afraid of it becoming widely known that he was a witness. At that, Sami, who had risen hesitantly, grabbed Dennis’s arm. He looked desperate. He was a good body, from which the trembling was transmitted directly. Dennis suddenly imagined what it would have been like if the mud-stained man before him had learned dance like his brother.

Dennis pointed to the ground. Sami’s gaze followed Dennis’s index finger and plunged downward. He took a step back as if in disbelief. Dennis picked up a shovel, one of the supplies Sami had purchased. He forced it into Sami’s hands.

He reluctantly began to dig.

Under a tree with a clear view of Vittorio’s practice room, near the third exposed root. That was the spot where Laurent’s head was buried. Sami was crying as he hastily dug. The more emotional he became, the calmer Dennis grew.

However, no matter how much he dug and dug, Laurent Remi’s head did not appear. Then, an enraged Sami began to dig a circle around the entire area.

But Laurent’s head was nowhere to be found. They were both equally bewildered. Dennis touched his forehead. Perhaps he had been mistaken about burying it here. For the past few weeks, Dennis had not been in his right mind due to the drugs.

Dennis, snatching the shovel from Sami, began to dig up the ground himself. Sami was not sharp enough to keenly point out that Dennis was being overly zealous. He was half out of his mind from the unexpected accusation and truth.

Dennis threw the shovel down in a fit of temper. Someone had undoubtedly made off with Laurent Remi’s head.

But who, and for what purpose?

Finally, the rain began to pour. Both men standing in the garden were helplessly soaked.